Elevator



Patented Sept. 2, 1924.

UNITED STATES JOSEPH KOMAR-NISKY, OEVSCOBEY, MONTANA.

ELEVATOR.

Application led January 28, 1924. Serial No. 689,072.

To all whom t may concern.:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH KoMAnNTsKY, a citizen of the United States,residing at Scobey, in the co-unty of Daniels and State of Montana, haveinvented cert-ain new and useful Improvementsin Elevators; and l dodeclare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of theinvention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which itappertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to conveyors and more particularly to those usedfor elevating purposes, for instance, to elevate bundles of grain fromthe ground to a receiver for directing them to a travelingbundle-carrier or any other desired machine. The device includes anendless carrier having a plurality of pivoted forks or other' elevatingmembers, and it is the primary objectl of the invention to provide newand improved means for controlling the actions of these members, duringtheir travel with the endless carrier.

lith the foregoing in view, the invention resides in the novel Subjectmatter hereinafter described and claimed, the description beingsupplemented by the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 is a substantially vertical longitudinal sectional view througha machine constructed in accordance with my invention.

Figure 2 is a view similar to Fig. l but cut in a plane beyond the planein whichv Fig 1 is taken.

Figures 3, t and are detail vertical sectional views showinglthe mannerin which the controlling shoes of the pivoted elevating members, areguided into proper relation with guiding tracks, as they descend.

Figure 6 is: a vertical transverse sectional view as indicated by .line6-6 of Fig. 1l,

Figures 7, S and 9 are detail vertical longitudinal sectional viewsillustrating the manner in which the shoes of the pivoted elevatingmembers, are guided from certain ver tical trackage, onto horizontaltrackage which leads forwardly therefrom to the main trackage up whichsaid shoes travel during the elevating operation.

Figure is a vertical transverse sectional view as indicated by line10#1O of Fig. 7. v

Figure 11 1S a transverse sectional view on line 11-11 of Fig. 2.

Figure- 12 is a View similar to a portion of Fig. 2, but illustratingmore particularly the position taken by each of the pivoted elevatingmembers, when depositing its load upon the elevated receiver.

in illustrating my invention, have shown it mounted upon af portableframe F having rear wheels lV and front casters C. Standards S have beenshown, rising from the rear end of the frame F and supporting the frontends of horizontal bars, one of which is indicated at B in Figs. 1 and2, these bars being provided for the support of an elevated chute orother receiver R for directing bundles of Orain, elevated by theimproved elevator, to any desire-d traveling carrier or other machine.

ln the construction shown, a pair of rearwardly inclined side boards lextend from the front portion of the frame F to the upper ends of thestandards S, and an upper transverse shaft 2 extends between the upperends of said side boards, said shaft being suitably driven from avertical shaft 3 in turn driven by gearing l from one of the wheels 7.At the lower ends of the side boards l, guide sprockets 5 are suitablymount-ed in alinement with otherv sprockets 6 secured upon the shaft 2,and an endless carrier is tra-ined around these sprockets, andadditional sprockets 7 which are mounted behind said sprockets 5. In theconstruction shown, this carrier includes a pair of endless chains 8which pivotally carry a plurality of forks or other elevating members 9,each vof these members'being shown as provided with a rock shaft 10carried by the rchains 8, the ends vof said rock shaft being providedwith cross armsk 11 having controlling shoes 12 and 13 which arepreferably in the form ofrollers.

The endless carrier above described, is provided with a shorthorizontally movable reach H, an upwardly movable reach U and adownwardly moving reach D, and guiding trackage is provided for theshoes 12 and 13, so that the forks or the like 9 are directed forwardly,substantially toward the reach U as they travel horizontally with thereach H, so that said forks may pick up bundles or the like from theground. Other track-age is provided to engage the shoes and hold theforks 9 in bundle-carrying position while they travel upwardly,additional trackage is provided down which the slices travel with thereach D, to cause the forks 9 to start their descent 'in a substantially`.upstanding position, and means are provided to engage the shoes andswing the forks 9 forwardly toward their' horizontal positions, beforestarting them along the horizontal trackage.

In the construction shown, the trackage for the horizontal reach H,comprises an upper rail 14, a lower preferably channeled rail 15, and anintermediate rail 16, thus forming one track for the shoes 12v, betweenthe rails 14 and 16, and another track for the shoes 13 between therails 15 and 16. All of these rails may well be secured to suitablehangers 17, carried by the frame F. The front end of each rail 15 ispreferably turned upwardly and secured to the lower end of the adjacentside board 1, as indicated at 1S.

The substantially vertical trackage for the upwardly moving reach U, inthe construction herein disclosed, comprises an upper guide rail 19, alower guide rail and an intermediate rail 21, one set of-tliese railsbeing secured to the inner side of each of the side boards 1. The shoes12 travel betweenthe rails 19 and 2l and the shoes 13 are receivedbetween the rails 2O and 21.

The upper end of the rail 19 is shown turned rearwardly around the upperend of the side board 1 as indicated at 22, and the upper end of rail 21is similarly curved as indicated at 23.

Trackage for guiding the shoes during their descent includes in thepresent disclosure, a forwardly declined plate 24 at each side of themachine, said plate having rails or flanges 25 and 26 at its oppositeedges and an intermediate rail 27 between said iianges terminating at apoint as indicated at 23, the point being at the lower end of the rail27, while the upper end 29 of the latter is in spaced, end to endrelation with the rearwardly turned end 23 of the. rail 21. Below thepoint 2S, the flanges or rails 25 and 26 assume a rather close relationwith each other and constitute a common trackway for the shoes 12 and13, whereas previously to reaching this common trackway, the shoes 13traveled between the rails 26 and 27 and the shoes 12 were receivedbetween the rails 25 and 27. In the construction shown, the lower end ofthe rail 26 is joined to the rail 14 and the lower end ofthe rail 25 isjoined to the rail 15.

The adjacent ends of the rails 16 and 21 are rounded as indicated at 30and co-act with concave surfaces 31 on bars 32 secured vertically acrossthe lower 'ends of the side boards 1 in guiding the rollers 12 and 13 asthey cease moving horizontally and start to move vertically. 1i/Vhen theupward travel of these rollers and associated parts is completed andthey are to be engaged with the trackage for guiding them downwardly,they are properly guided .into engagement with this trackage by themeansdescribed below.

An upwardly swingable, normally lowered arm 33, is pivoted at 34:adjacent the upper end of the rail 21 and has its free end disposed inthe space between the rail ends 23 and 29. This arm is provided with acurved portion `35 at the end of the upward path of the roller 13 andywhen any of these rollers 13 comes in contact with said portion 35, theactions detailed in Figs. 3, 1, and 5, take place, that is, the roller13 swings the arm 35 upwardly so that its free end constitutes anabutment to arrest movement of the roller 12 until said roller 13 is inproper position to engage with the track which guides it downwardly.Then, the arm 33 is released by said roller 13, as shown in Fig. 5, andthe roller 12 can descend in its proper track. By this arrangement ofabutment and operating means therefor, it will be seen that the movementof the forks or the like 9 as they Vstart downwardly, is properlycontrolled, so that they may deposit their load into the receiver R.This depositing is preferably facilitated by cutting out a portion ofthe rail 26, as indicated at 36. Thus, the weight of any of the materialclinging to the forks as they start downwardly, willtilt said forksrearwardly when the rollers 13 come opposite the cutout 36, as seen inFig. 12, and thus, the fork or the like 9 may substantially scrape uponthe edge of the receiver R so that all material will be eifectivelyremoved therefrom. To restore the parts to their proper positions, afterthe scraping operation, I provide means such as a cam 37 in the downwardpath of the roller 13, as shown most clearly in Figs. 1 and 2.

In addition to the shoe-controlled means for properly guiding the shoes12 and 13 into engagement with the trackage down which they descend, Iprovide somewhatsimilar, shoe-controlled, switch means for insuringproper guiding of said slices into engagement with the Ihorizontaltrackage. 1n the construction shown, a switch tongue'33 is pivoted tothe metal-bound rear end 33 of the rail 16 and this tongue is normallyin a position to engage. any of the shoes 13 as shown in Figs. 2 and 7,so as to guide `said shoe downwardly under the rail 16. T have shown anoperating arm 39 connected withV and extending from the tongue 38 acrossthe downward path of the shoe 13, so'that when said arm is struck bysaid shoe as shown in Fig. 8, the switch tongue 33 is swung to aposition for guiding the adjacent shoe 12 over the rail 16, as will beclear by reference to Figs. 8 and 9. It is thus insured that the shoes12 and 13 shall travel properly along the horizontal trackage. v

In the preferred form of construction, the rails 20 above described, arerather w1de as shown 111 deta1l 1n Flg. 11, and vertical lflanges a()rise therefrom, one of these CJI flanges being illustrated. The flangesat opposite sides of the machine are connected by a metal sheet l1 whichmay be supported at intervals by transverse bars 12 so as to form aneffective support for the material beine' elevated.

lVlnle it is believed that the operation of the machine will be readilyunderstood from the foregoing, it may be summarized as follows l'ntraveling forwardly, the forks 9 are held in about the lposition shownin Fig. 1 by engagement of their control shoes 12 and 13, with thetrackage 14-15-1G and these forks are properly turned to load-supportingposition, as they start to ascend, by the construction of trackage abovedescribed for that purpose.. As the forks ascend, the shoes 12 and 13,cooperating with the rails 19, 20 and 21, maintain said forks in suchposition as to effectively elevate their loads, and as the forks turnrearwardly from the last mentioned rails, the pivoted arm 33 retardstheir shoes 12 until the .shoes 13 are properly positioned to descendbetween the rails 26 and 27. Then, the shoes 12 are released and candescend between the rails 25 and 27. When the gap 36 is encountered byany of the rollers 13, the fork 9 associated with said roller may tiltrearwardly as shown in Fig. 12 to effectively deposit its load upon thereceiver R, and when said shoe 13 engages the cam 37, the fork is againswung forwardly to some extent. "When the shoes 12 and 13 leave thepoint 2S of the rail 27, said shoes mutually travel between the portionsof the rails 25 and 26 below said point, and thus the forks 9 swingforwardly toward horizontal position. When any of the shoes 13encounters the spring-raised switch tongue 88, it necessarily can travelonly into the space between the rails 15 and 16 and the adjacent shoe 12can then enter no other space except that between the rails 111 and 16,as the shoe 13 has then swung the switch tongue 38 to the position ofFig. 8.

As excellent results may be obtained from the details disclosed, suchdetails may well be followed, but it is to be understood that thepresent disclosure is principally for illustrative purposes and thatwithin the scope of the invention as claimed, numerous changes may bemade.

l claim:

1. An elevator comprising an endless carrier having an upwardly movingreach, a downwardly moving reach and a horizon tally moving reachbetween the lower ends of said upwardly and downwardly moving reaches,said carrier including a pivoted elevating member, and a pair of spacedcontrolling shoes therefor, substantially horizontal tracks for saidshoes to direct said elevating member substantially toward said upwardlymoving reach as said member moves horizontally, whereby to permit it topick up a load, trackage for said shoes when traveling upwardly adaptedto hold said elevating member in load-carrying position, substantiallyvertical tracks for said shoes when traveling downwardly to start saidelevating member on its descent` in an up standing load-dischargingposition, shoecontrolled means for holding one of said shoes againstengagement with its respective vertical track until the other shoe ispositioned to engage its track, common trackage for both shoes undersaid vertical tracks to turn said elevating` member toward itshorizontal load-receiving position, and shoe-controlled switch means forproperly guiding said shoes from said common trackage into engagementwith said horizontal tracks.

2. A conveyor comprising an endless carrier having oppositely movingreaches, said carrier including a pivoted conveying member having a pairof spaced control shoes, means for guiding said shoes when moving in onedirection, individual tracks for guiding said shoes when moving in theother direction, a normally inactive abutment to prevent movement of oneof said shoes along its respective track until the other shoe ispositioned to properly engage the other track, and means forautomatically moving said abutment to operative position.

3. A conveyor comprising an endless cari rier having oppositely movingreaches, said carrier including a pivoted conveying member having a pairof spaced control shoes, means for guiding said shoes when moving in onedirection, individual tracks for guiding said shoes when moving in theother direction, and means actuated by one of said shoes for arrestingmovement of the other shoe until said one shoe is properly positioned tomove along its respective track.

41. A conveyor comprising an endless carrier having oppositely movingreaches, said carrier including a pivoted conveying memn ber having apair of spaced control shoes, means for guiding said shoes when movingin one direction, individual tracks for guiding said shoes when movingin the other direction, and a pivoted arm adapted to swing into the pathof one of said shoes to prevent movement thereof along its respectivetrack until the other shoe is positioned to travel along the othertrack, said arm having a portion in the path of said other shoe adaptedto be struck by the latter to swing said arm to operative position.

5. An elevator comprising an endless carrier having upwardly anddownwardly moving reaches, said carrier including a pivoted elevatingmember having a pair of spaced control shoes; inner and outer paralleltracks for said shoes when traveling upwardly, additional inner andouter tracks for said shoes when traveling downwardly, the upper ends ofthe inner and ou-ter tracks being in communication with each otherrespectively, and a normally lowered pivoted arm adapted to swingupwardly into the descending path of one of said shoes to .checkthelatter until the other shoe is positioned to engage its respectivetrack when 4descending, said'arm havino' a portion in the upward path ofsaid other shoe to be struck by the latter, whereby to raisefsaid arm tooperative position.

6. A structure as specified in claim t; said shoe guiding meansincluding a rail between the two shoe paths; said individual tracksincluding a rail between the two shoe paths terminating in spaced end toend relation with the first named rail; said arm being pivoted at oneend adjacent the first named rail and having its free end extending intothe space between the twoy rails.

7 A conveyor comprising an endless carrier having a pivoted conveyingmember provided with spaced control shoes, a pair of parallel tracks'forsaid shoes respectively, including a rail between the shoe paths, commonguiding means for vboth shoes leading to said tracks,l a switch tonguevpivoted on one end of said rail and normally positioned to guide one ofsaid shoes into engagement with its respective track, and an operatingarm extending from said tongue into the path of said one shoe to beoperated by the latter and move said tongue to a position for guidingthe other shoe into engagement with its respective track.

8. An elevator comprising an endless carrier having upwardly anddownwardly moving reaches and including a pivoted elevating memberhaving two spaced control shoes, guiding means for said shoes includingtrackage alongvwhich they descend with said elevating: member directed'upwardly, a receiver for the material elevated by said member, saidreceiver being disposed adjacent the upper end of said trackage, saidtrackage having a gap in its downward reach to release one of said shoesand permit substantially horizontal swinging of said elevating membertoward said receiver to deposit its load thereon, and a cam at the endof said gap in the downward path of said one shoe for returning sai-dshoe after depositing the load on said receiver.

In testimony whereof' I have hereunto affixed my signature.

JOSEPH KOMARNISKY.

